Questions of Culture

If we take the definition of culture as everything we don't have to do, how important is culture to contemporary society?

This is an unsafe definition of culture. Limiting the scope of cultural context to things 'we dont have to do' leads to ambiguity on two fronts. Firstly, there are those things that are subjective. For example some may believe that they have to do religious penance and obviously others will disagree. Secondly, things that people do have to do can have a large impact. Examples may include mandatory military service, tax regiemes, mandatory religious observance etc. Both these situations will have at least some impact on the culture of a given group or region, and limiting the definition to such things like entertainment or academic interest is to give a false impression of that culture.

That being said, the question of how important culture is to contemporary society is a tricky one. Afterall, if a society cares about culture, than that caring is a part of the culture for that society. Likewise, a society that does not care about it would also be defined at least in part by that lack of care. Culture is a reflection of what is, rather than some definition which you fit into or do not. Of course, culture and the preservation thereof, matters a lot to some people, who can be said to be part of a subculture of thier own. History tells us that culture is a constantly evolving thing, and the very effort of preserving it also changes it (Heisenberg would be proud). Perhaps the only ones who really care about culture are those that study it out of academic interest and make no attempt to influence it.

Do most people like technology?

I believe most people do. Technology, like most things, is governed by Natural Selection. If a particular piece of technology was not useful or entertaining to someone, it wouldnt be around for people dislike it. And if an individual does not like a particular piece of technology, so what? I dont like cucumbers but I dont expect anyone else to care =)

Do they like its influence on their lives?

Again, this is a subjective question. Unless an individual is living naked up a tree living on picked fruit and raw meat, then technology is having an influence on thier lives. Despite the tendancy to hark back to the 'good old days', things have been gradually but measurably improving for the average human being for a long time. More food, less working hours, longer life, less infant mortality etc etc. Given this, people should like technology for all its provided. Of course many people will still complain and moan about it but theres no helping some people eh?

Do they realise the extent of its influence?

I doubt it. Considering the prevalance of technology in the mordern world its difficult for even a techno savvy person to gauge the extant of its influence. I am writing this on a compter; an obvious technological artefact. In a few minutes I am going to get a sausage roll. The sausage roll was heated in a microwave oven. Both were transported to the college in a truck. The pig was butchered in a artificially cooled abbatoir. The pig was raised in a modern piggery. It was probably suckled on a machine teat. It was fed on grains grown using chemical insectecides, harvested with a combine harvester that ran on feul distilled in a large refinery transported in a steel ship pumped to a storage tank in a high pressure pipeline plumbed from undergroung by an oilwell etc etc etc

Who can realise the extent of technological influence??